Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Tale of two runs: Misplaced withdrawals


This weekend my wife and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. If you are thinking what I am thinking wow, you got someone to marry you!? you'll likely be thinking that 7 years seems to go by in a blink of an eye. It feels like just yesterday I was wearing snap bracelets, playing with my pet rock, writing my wedding toast. Honestly? I couldn't imagine spending 7 years any other way.

Marriage is a lot like running: You make deposits like to a piggy bank. Every so often (happy hour with the guys / 5K that you hope to PR) you make withdrawals from that piggy bank. You hope that you're making withdrawals when they count, but often times you see one of those infomercials of someone cutting a shoe in half with the ginzu knife and splurge. Only later do you realize that your withdrawal was wasted. Stupid Ron Popeil.


On Thursday, I headed to the track with Jeff. I think Jeff must have been drawn to the thought that he might see me without a shirt on because he drove 45 min to run on a sub-par track. Fortunately, I did not disappoint. I decided to do a ladder workout - starting with shorter intervals, getting long, and then going back short. 400m/800m/1600m/800m/400m. The reason that this one is so hard is that you run both sets of 400s and 800s at the same speed. So, after blasting through 400/800/a mile repeat, you have to get even faster!

The running was fun, and Jeff mostly kept his hands to himself. I ran the above at the following paces: 5:29, 5:46, 5:56, 5:53, 5:32 which felt FAST. Although, as I look back, I think that I may have withdrawn a few too to much fast running.
You see, Saturday had 16 miles on the schedule. 16 HOT miles. What Thursday's track session had in awesomeness (fast times, consistent pacing, good running buddies) my long run lacked. I ran just a bit to hard on Thursday and paid for it during my long run.

Everything started out good, but around the half way point the wheels started to fall off. All runs in Phoenix are relatively hot, but this one was particularly so. I had gone through a lot of my 40 oz of water that I was carrying on my belt and I felt my heart racing. But, other than that, I just felt TIRED. My legs felt tired, my breathing felt labored. . . . believe it or not - I couldn't even think of any good "that's what she said" jokes. Crazy. I essentially walk/ran the rest of the way home.

When I got home, I immediately started drinking. hyponatremia be damned, I was thirsty. All told, I drank 96 oz of water within 2 hours of finishing my run (not counting what I drank WHILE running). In fact, during the entire day I only peed 4 times. Not good.

But, just like every other situation, I did learn some things. First, Lidsey Lohan will NEVER stay sober. First, I need to hydrate better. But most importantly, try to keep my speed in check - keep my eye on the larger goal and know when to lay it all out on the line. Oh, and know when to have stepback weeks - which is what next week will be!